I Tested 12 Peel-and-Stick Wallpapers on Textured Walls (My 5-Month Results)

A couple of years ago, I did an experiment testing twelve peel-and-stick wallpapers on textured walls. The results were… dramatic. Nine out of the twelve wallpapers fell off the wall within five days.

That experiment still gave me three brands I felt very comfortable recommending, which was great news for those of us with textured walls. But that test was also done in my garage, which isn’t temperature controlled, and the Texas weather was doing its thing the entire time. It was basically a worst-case scenario for wallpaper.

So I decided to run the experiment again to see if I could find a few more options that work in real life.

This time I installed the samples inside my house…in the bathroom, to be exact. I figured that if peel-and-stick wallpaper can survive bathroom humidity and temperature changes, it can probably survive anywhere in your home. I decided to leave them up until there was a long period of time without any change to the samples, which ended up being a total of five months.

To be totally honest, I had pretty low expectations. But the bathroom results were much more encouraging than the garage results. Out of the twelve wallpapers I tested, four fell off completely, two loosened but stayed on the wall, and six stayed up for the entire five months. I was concerned about the ones that stayed on the wall possibly doing damage when taken down (I have some residual smooth wall wallpaper trauma), but they all came off clean.

For reference, the wall I tested on has an orange peel texture (which is a pretty common wall texture). Here’s a close-up of what mine looks like –

Yeah…it’s pretty rough. Great for testing.

So let’s dig into the experiment details. But first, for all you skimmers…

Spoiler

The 12 Peel-and-Stick Wallpapers I Tested

• InHome – $15 – $30 per roll (20.8in x 18ft).
• NuWallpaper – Roughly $30 per roll (20.5in x 18ft).
• Tempaper – Roughly $30 per roll (20.5in x 16.5ft).
• RoomMates – Roughly $30 per roll (20.5in x 16.5ft).
• Threshold – $34 per roll (20in x 16.5ft).
• Opal House – $34 per roll (20in x 16.5ft).
• Rifle Paper Company – $65 per roll (20.5inx20ft).
• Love vs. Design – $3.75 – $4.50 per sq ft, depending on which type you pick.
• Anewall – $389-$499 for a 141” W x 108” H mural. Comes out to about $60-$75 per roll.
• Serena & Lily – $98 per roll (20.5in x 16.5ft).
• Spoonflower – $129 for a small roll (2×12 ft).

The Five-Month Peel-and-Stick Wallpaper Experiment

Here is a quick overview of how the experiment progressed.

Day 1 – Installed the samples

(Two of the wallpaper samples arrived a little later than the others, so they were added shortly after this photo was taken.)

Day 70 – RoomMates fell off the wall (honestly, I’m shocked it stayed up that long looking like it did.)

By this time, Tempaper was barely hanging on, Floral Plus wasn’t doing so hot, and Serena and Lily’s corners were giving up.

Day 72 – Tempaper fell.

Day 81 – Floral Plus hit the ground, which was the last wallpaper to fall during the experiment.

Day 152 (five months) – I took the remaining samples off the wall to see if they came off without damage (they did).

Brand Notes

Here are my thoughts on each brand that I tested.

• InHome – Don’t use this brand for textured walls. Not only was it the first wallpaper to fall off the wall in my test, but it’s also very thin, which would make for a difficult whole-room install.
• Floral Plus – I don’t recommend this one for textured walls either. It was actually the first wallpaper to partially peel away from the wall, and eventually fell off completely on day 81 of the experiment.
• NuWallpaper – This was my top budget recommendation in my smooth-wall test, but it performed a little differently on textured walls. One corner of the sample peeled away about a month in, and about 20% of it eventually came loose, though the rest stayed very firmly attached. If you have a more lightly textured wall, this could still be a good option. It’s widely available, affordable, and has lots of design choices. I just wouldn’t recommend it for heavily textured walls, based on its performance on my wall. 
• RoomMates –This one also didn’t hold up on textured walls. It was about 80% off the wall by day 30, and fell off the wall completely on day 70.
• Tempaper – I don’t recommend this brand. It fell off the wall on day 72, plus I had issues with this brand in my smooth wall test caused noticeable wall damage when removed.
• Threshold – This wallpaper stayed attached to the wall for the full five months of the experiment. It was also one of the three wallpapers that stayed up during my original garage test, which means it’s proven it can handle some pretty extreme conditions. It’s also one of the most affordable options I tested, making it a great budget-friendly choice for textured walls.
• OpalHouse – This wallpaper also stayed on the wall for the full five months of the experiment. Like Threshold, it was one of the three wallpapers that survived my original garage test. Opalhouse is also a Target brand, so it’s another affordable and widely available option for textured walls.
• Rifle Paper Company – This is my top recommendation overall. It stayed firmly on the wall for the entire five months and was actually the most stuck to the wall when I removed the samples at the end of the experiment. Rifle Paper Co. wallpaper has now performed well in every test I’ve done (the garage test, the smooth wall test, and this textured wall test), which makes it the most consistently reliable peel-and-stick wallpaper I’ve found. It seems to have a very strong, but still gentle adhesive. Rifle Paper Co. wallpaper is manufactured by York Wallcoverings, one of the oldest wallpaper manufacturers in the United States. You can buy their designs directly from Rifle Paper Co., and I’ve also found some beautiful York designs available at Anthropologie.
• Love vs. Design – This wallpaper performed very well in my textured wall test and stayed firmly on the wall for the full five months (both the smooth and woven versions). I did not include this brand in my original garage test, but it held up great on my orange peel textured wall in this experiment. One of the most unique things about Love vs. Design is that you can completely customize the colors of their designs directly on their website, which is really fun if you’re trying to match a specific palette. That said, I would still approach this one with a little caution. In my smooth wall test, Love vs. Design was actually the most damaging wallpaper I tested. If your walls are more lightly textured than mine, I would definitely put up a sample first before committing to a full room.
• Anewall – This wallpaper stayed firmly on the wall for the full five months of the experiment and performed very well overall. In my original garage test, it actually lasted almost to the end and was one of the last wallpapers to fall before the final three. Anewall is a smaller boutique wallpaper company known for its beautiful large-scale murals and unique designs, and based on my testing, it’s another solid option for textured walls.
• Serena & Lily – This wallpaper (both samples, smooth and grasscloth) stayed on the wall for the full five months, but the corners of the samples started lifting partway through the experiment. Because of that and the relatively high price, I can’t say I recommend this one.
• Spoonflower –This wallpaper stayed firmly on the wall for the full five months of the experiment. Spoonflower wallpaper is also noticeably thicker than most peel-and-stick options, which would likely make it easier to install, and the quality is excellent. One of the most unique things about Spoonflower is that their designs are created by independent artists, so the site functions more like a marketplace for designers. Because of that, they have an enormous selection of very unique patterns you won’t find anywhere else. The biggest downside is the price…it is the most expensive of the other brands I tested. I wouldn’t personally use it for a full room unless budget isn’t a concern, but it would be a fantastic option for a smaller project like an accent wall, backsplash area, or the back of a cabinet.

My Recommendations

If you have textured walls and want peel-and-stick wallpaper that will actually stay up, these are my recommendations –

Best Overall: Rifle Paper Co.

Best Budget Options: Threshold and Opalhouse

Other Great Options: Anewall, Love vs. Design, and Spoonflower

Peel-and-stick wallpaper and textured walls aren’t supposed to go together… at least according to most brands and the internet. But after five months of testing, I can tell you they actually can, you just have to choose the right one. And now you don’t have to guess. You’re welcome.

Other Peel-and-Stick Wallpaper Posts

If you’re researching peel-and-stick wallpaper, you may also want to read these posts –

• Everything I Learned Installing Peel-and-Stick Wallpaper
• How Much Wallpaper Do I Need?
• Best Peel-and-Stick Wallpaper for Textured Walls (test 1)
• What I Learned Testing 12 Peel-and-Stick Wallpapers on Smooth Walls